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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23818060">Maybe Now You Have Figured It Out</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/singing_to_empty_caves/pseuds/singing_to_empty_caves'>singing_to_empty_caves</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>That's What Bein' A Friend Is About [9]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Mother 1 | EarthBound Zero | EarthBound Beginnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>:D, Coming Out, I'm Sorry, Internalized Homophobia, LLOYD SAYS THE THING, Romantic Confession, TW:, Vomiting, anxiety attack, but it's so good, f-slur, i promise it's happier than it sounds from those, it's here, mild (very mild) swearing, there's more crying</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 15:47:34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,450</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23818060</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/singing_to_empty_caves/pseuds/singing_to_empty_caves</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>No one really knows what they'll do in a life-or-death situation until they have to face one. Lloyd, unfortunately, has to figure it out on the fly. In a town of loneliness and fear, he and Ninten learn something new about each other and about their enemy.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ana/Ninten (Mother 1), Lloyd &amp; Ninten (Mother 1), lloyd/ninten (one-sided)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>That's What Bein' A Friend Is About [9]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1524248</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Maybe Now You Have Figured It Out</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I mentioned it in the tags, but here's a quick few tw's (as this chapter is a bit more... intense than past ones):<br/>-Ninten says exactly one swear word (I KNOW).<br/>-vomiting<br/>-anxiety attack<br/>-f-slur<br/>-internalized homophobia</p>
<p>Stay safe and enjoy reading!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lloyd had figured, over the course of his unexpected adventure, that Ninten’s blindingly bright optimism would see the group through no matter what they faced. After all, he’d seen it work its magic too many times to doubt it.</p>
<p>In a way, that crazy glass-half-full attitude was all that kept Lloyd going at this point. If he didn’t believe in Ninten’s insane plans… well, what was he here for? Without Ninten’s friendship, he was just a kid who ran away from home and spent every day watching two people fall in love knowing he... wasn’t that lucky.</p>
<p>Sure, Ninten was a great friend. Lloyd appreciated him, no doubt about it. The thing was that… well, if Ninten weren’t so determined to keep up their friendship, Lloyd wasn’t sure he would still be out here instead of at home.</p>
<p>Denying it to himself didn’t do anything. Every time he watched Ninten turn a little pink at something Ana said, Lloyd wished he’d been the one to flatter him. Every time Ninten showed off a grin, Lloyd’s heart fluttered as an immediate reaction. And now, he was lying awake in the Reindeer hotel thinking about how nice it would be to hold Ninten’s hand. Or how horrible he was for thinking that way about his best friend. It switched back and forth. </p>
<p>Why didn’t he just say something in Snowman? Getting it off his chest and hearing Ninten tell him to give up the crush would’ve ended this before it grew into such a huge problem. Maybe he’d hoped it would go away on its own, but… that wasn’t the case. Not at all.</p>
<p>At least Ninten didn’t seem to notice Lloyd’s new, quieter habits. The only time he looked concerned was when they went to the store and Ninten bought Lloyd a new jacket. He didn’t seem hurt or anything that Lloyd didn’t want to wear the jacket, just worried. “If ya don’t like it, I can return it and find a new one. I don’t wantcha to be cold.” How was Lloyd supposed to respond to that without sounding like a jerk?</p>
<p>In any case, he had the jacket, a boomerang, and an awfully big crush on his best friend.</p>
<p>Lloyd turned over and buried his face in his pillow. He didn’t know how he’d be able to sleep, but he had to try.</p><hr/>
<p>The difference in Ana and Ninten was visible the moment they walked into Easter. It scared Lloyd, because they walked through a gap in an old fence and suddenly Ninten’s shoulders slumped. The bright eyes were suddenly dull… and it wasn’t just him who looked dead on his feet. Within seconds of entering Easter, Lloyd realized he was looking at church Ana, and a version of Ninten he didn’t even know existed.</p>
<p>The passion in everything Ninten did… it was all gone. Clearly, something was very, <i>very</i> wrong.</p>
<p>On top of that, Easter itself wasn’t exactly in the best shape. Whatever was affecting Ninten and Ana, it had a grip on the kids here, too. The town was <i>only</i> kids, actually… and they weren’t exactly forgetting it.</p>
<p>“Have you seen my mommy?”</p>
<p>Lloyd turned around to see a girl, probably around kindergarten age, with tears in her eyes. She was only one of the unexpectedly abandoned children wandering the town.</p>
<p>“No,” Ninten sighed. “We’re tryin’ to find the grown-ups, but we haven’t yet.”</p>
<p>“...I miss her,” the girl sniffled.</p>
<p>Before they could say anything back to her, she wandered away.</p>
<p>“These kids scare me,” Lloyd mumbled, wrapping his arms around himself. “It doesn’t feel right.”</p>
<p>“I’d be upset too if my mom disappeared,” Ninten pointed out. But… he almost sounded <i>sarcastic.</i> Lloyd had only ever heard this from him when they had a fight. It hurt a little.</p>
<p>“Why do you think I joined up with you guys?” Ana said. “I want my mom back, too.”</p>
<p>So Ninten sounded irritated, and Ana sounded absolutely miserable. Since when was Lloyd the happiest person in the group?</p>
<p>“We’ll find your mom, Ana,” Lloyd reassured. “And Ninten… Could you be a little nicer? I just want to help these kids.”</p>
<p>“Don’t you think I do, too?” Ninten snapped. “Don’t lecture me, I’m in charge here!”</p>
<p><i>Whoa.</i> That was sudden. It felt like a slap in the face. Since when did Ninten think that way?</p>
<p>“Ninten..?”</p>
<p>“Oh, sure, act like you don’t know. “Don’t yell in trains, don’t jump on the bed, take your inhaler”, jeez! I can think for myself, ya know! And where would you be if I wasn’t here to save you every time somethin’ went wrong?”</p>
<p>Did Ninten mean what he was saying? Lloyd stared down at the grass.</p>
<p>“Ninten, you don’t have to be mean to him…” Ana said.</p>
<p>“Well, he doesn’t have to act like he’s better than me, but he does!” Ninten groaned. “I kept wonderin’ why you got all quiet the past couple a’ days, but I bet you’re just upset ya got stuck with a <i>dumb</i> kid from a small town in the middle of nowhere. I mean, what’s Mother’s Day to some <i>genius asshole</i> from Thanksgiving?!”</p>
<p>“<i>Ninten!</i>” Ana gasped.</p>
<p>No, this definitely wasn’t Ninten. Lloyd had never heard him swear, not once. Whatever was making him and Ana upset, it was way more intense than Lloyd thought at first.</p>
<p>Still… hearing those awful things from Ninten’s mouth wasn’t exactly the best feeling.</p>
<p>“I didn’t mean to upset you,” Lloyd said as calmly as he could manage.</p>
<p>“Right. Well, guess what? I don’t need you! Go on, go home! Cry over your sick mom or somethin’, I can do this alone!”</p>
<p>At least it couldn’t get any worse.</p>
<p>“I’m… going to give you some space for a little while,” Lloyd said.</p>
<p>He still refused to look at Ninten’s face before he turned around and left. He knew it wouldn’t be a nice expression. Even though he had no doubts that whatever was going on wasn’t really Ninten, he still felt horrible. Ninten wasn’t the dumb one. If anything, it was Lloyd.</p>
<p>Of course it was, everything Lloyd did was <i>stupid.</i> He got in an argument with Ninten about <i>math.</i> He sold the boomerang Ninten bought to make sure Lloyd wouldn’t get killed in some really insignificant way. And he fell in love. With a boy. With his <i>only friend.</i></p>
<p>He had to do some really smart things to make up for that, he figured. He had to keep making good decisions, and doing what he could to help Ninten and Ana. But it was dumb… he was too scared all the time.</p>
<p>The bottle rocket was about as courageous as he got. He never hit hard enough to really help, and if he tried to help by being a distraction, he ended up frozen in place, shaking. He had to do what he could from a distance, with the second boomerang Ninten bought for him--otherwise, he was completely useless.</p>
<p>Well, he wouldn’t be so useless now, would he? He would go out and gather information, and then he’d be able to keep Ninten and Ana from getting any worse. That was the smartest thing at the moment, so maybe he’d be able to make up for all of his dumb mistakes.</p><hr/>
<p>The more Lloyd explored the town, the more he learned about how powerful this evil thing in Thanksgiving actually was. All of the kids he talked to had either lost all hope or, like Ninten, become bitter and sarcastic. He didn’t fully understand what was going on, but clearly he was going to have to work on his own for a little while.</p>
<p>Why wasn’t he affected by it..? Or was it just bypassing him because he was already upset? He had to admit, that sounded plausible, too. He didn’t really have any leads on what was going on, so he had to go with the scientific method. Everything was a possibility until he had hard evidence otherwise.</p>
<p>That meant he had to ask every child in the town until he had something to work with. If nothing else, the observational data would help him construct a hypothesis.</p>
<p>His first solid bit of information came from a house nestled away in the trees. After knocking on the door and getting no answer, he opened it with caution--and flinched at the loud screaming inside.</p>
<p>All of the kids in Easter looked sort of shaken, but the two hidden away here were the first ones who were genuinely shaking in terror. They looked to be about seven and maybe nine, at the absolute most.</p>
<p>“Hey,” Lloyd greeted cautiously--and they both pressed up against the wall.</p>
<p>“Don’t come any closer!” the older one yelled. </p>
<p>“Don’t worry, I won’t.” He took a step back, now against the opposite wall himself. “What are your names?”</p>
<p>The younger one, a little girl, balled up the sides of her dress in her fists. “Bella.”</p>
<p>“What do you want?” the older child asked, skipping right over introducing himself.</p>
<p>Lloyd adjusted his glasses nervously. “Well… I was hoping to learn a little bit more about what’s going on here in Easter. My friends and I are only visiting, but we noticed some strange things happening.”</p>
<p>“Like what happened with Joey?” Bella asked.</p>
<p>“Shh!” the boy hushed her.</p>
<p>“Joey?” Lloyd asked.</p>
<p>Bella spoke up again, softly. “Our friend Joey was here with us… we invited him in ‘cause his mom taught him how to cook, and our parents were gone. But he was yelling at us, and then… his eyes got all big, and he got these sharp teeth…”</p>
<p>“We haven’t left the house since we chased him out,” the boy explained.</p>
<p>That sounded like… the Weird-ified?! There were Weird-ified <i>children?!</i> Was that where everyone was disappearing to? Becoming monsters… or else…</p>
<p>“Has that happened to anyone else?”</p>
<p>“No… we think maybe it’s just ‘cause Joey had something special,” Bella said.</p>
<p>“What?”</p>
<p>The boy glanced out the window, then back at Lloyd. “We dunno how he did it, but he could play marbles without using his hands. He said he learned how to move things with his brain one day in math class.”</p>
<p>That… sounded like a PSI ability. What if PSI made someone more susceptible to the things happening in Easter? If they really were tuned in to a special type of communication, maybe the Weird-ifying force was stronger on that level…</p>
<p>...which explained how Ninten and Ana got so intense so quickly, which meant they might be Weird-ified soon.</p>
<p>“Thanks, I’ve gotta run,” Lloyd muttered, throwing the door open and sprinting back into town.</p>
<p>This was bad. This was really, truly horrible. What if he was too late?! He didn’t think he was strong enough to defeat either one of them if they attacked him, let alone <i>both</i> of them. Ninten didn’t hold back, which was the only way they’d stopped the Weird-ified so far. If he got Weird-ified himself… and Ana had those ice and fire attacks, he didn’t want to get frozen or burned! And if he didn’t stop them, if they stayed Weird-ified, then no one would be able to gather the rest of the melodies. The world would be doomed.</p><hr/>
<p>Lloyd caught sight of them in the center of town, thankfully appearing somewhat normal. He ran to meet them. If he could somehow get them all to work together on a plan--</p>
<p>Ninten turned around at the sound of Lloyd’s footsteps… with a vicious grin made up of sharp teeth, the same one still missing.</p>
<p>“<i>Hey, Lloyd,</i>” he called.</p>
<p>Ana turned around just after he did, and blinked her wide, crazed eyes in silence.</p>
<p>“Oh… oh, no,” Lloyd breathed. What was he supposed to do now?!</p>
<p>“<i>PSI Paralysis.</i>”</p>
<p>Lloyd immediately tried to run, but true to the PSI power, he was completely stuck.</p>
<p>Ninten approached slowly, sizing him up like one of their foes while he twirled his bat in one hand.</p>
<p>“No… no, Ninten,” Lloyd pleaded.</p>
<p>“<i>PSI Thunder!</i>”</p>
<p>A bolt of lightning shot out of Ana’s palm, narrowly missing Lloyd. Unable to flinch back, he felt all the breath leave his lungs.</p>
<p>“<i>Ana, let me take care of him.</i>”</p>
<p>Ninten took a couple more steps forward with his disturbing grin only spreading wider. It was a horrible mockery of his usual cheerful smile, and Lloyd felt panic wash over his whole body. Ninten was going to kill him. Lloyd was going to die. His lungs heaved as much as his paralyzed body would allow. No, no, nonono he was about to die--</p>
<p>“Please! <i>Ninten!</i> You’re my best friend!” Lloyd screamed.</p>
<p>It made Ninten pause. The grin faded just a little.</p>
<p>Lloyd realized that he might be able to get through to his friend, if he tried hard enough. And, considering the circumstances, he was willing to do anything.</p>
<p>“You brought me with you after I nearly killed you trying to make cough syrup! You’re always looking after me, because you <i>care!</i> No one else ever did, you’re the best friend I’ve ever had! I-I’m so scared right now, but I know you’re in there, I know my friend is in there!”</p>
<p>Ninten wasn’t moving anymore, and his grin was completely replaced with a confused half-open mouth... but his eyes were still wide and crazy.</p>
<p>It was working. Trying to get him to remember their friendship was pulling him out of it!</p>
<p>“C’mon, Ninten, <i>please</i>,” Lloyd repeated, at a lower volume. “You’re such a good person. You’d never hurt a fly, you just knock sense into the Weird-ified and let them go on their way. I know you don’t want to hurt me, you’ve just got something in your head, right?”</p>
<p>“<i>Lloyd…</i>”</p>
<p>Ninten took a step closer, grip on his bat tightening as the grin spread again.</p>
<p>Lloyd wanted to turn and run, and tried it on instinct, but Ana’s PSI was too strong to break so easily. He didn’t understand why it wasn’t enough--shouldn’t it have been enough?!</p>
<p>Wait. Wait, the evil came back when Lloyd turned to a more logical tone, was that it? Was it… responding to the <i>intensity</i> of his words instead of the actual call to Ninten to remember their friendship? The loud pleas were more effective than calm information. It was based on the feelings!</p>
<p>Ninten raised his bat, and Lloyd gasped.</p>
<p>“No! No, Ninten, you’re--this isn’t <i>you!</i>”</p>
<p>It made Ninten hesitate, but not stop. Lloyd needed something stronger! Ninten was going to end him if he didn’t think of something. <i>Anything.</i> What would be strong enough to--</p>
<p>…<i>Oh.</i></p>
<p>Lloyd squinted his eyes shut. He knew what he had to do, but that didn’t make it any easier.</p>
<p>“<i>Run out of things to say?</i>”</p>
<p>“Ninten! I--” Lloyd choked on the words, no, he had to push them out!</p>
<p>He took a deep breath and screamed out, “<i>I’m in love with you!</i>”</p>
<p>Ninten flashed strobing colors, as if Lloyd had struck him with a weapon--they were bright enough to jar Lloyd into opening his eyes. He watched Ninten stumble backwards, then collapse to the ground. The bat fell from his hands.</p>
<p>Lloyd stared at him with wide eyes. Was… was he unconscious?! Ana still had Lloyd paralyzed, and he didn’t have something that powerful to stop her!</p>
<p>“<i>That was cute. Too bad those were your last words.</i>”</p>
<p>“You won’t win,” Lloyd insisted, tears gathering in his eyes. “He’ll stop you!”</p>
<p>“<i>We have other ways to defeat Ninten.</i>”</p>
<p>Ana raised her hand.</p>
<p>“<i>PSI--</i>”</p>
<p>Ana screeched and fell to her knees. Lloyd realized Ninten was up again, on all fours, and had knocked her over.</p>
<p>“Sorry ‘bout this,” he said.</p>
<p>He swung his bat at her head just hard enough to snap her out of it. She flashed the strobing lights, then collapsed onto her side.</p>
<p>Ninten looked weaker than usual, but he managed to get up on his knees and look up at Lloyd. He raised one hand.</p>
<p>“PSI Healing,” he said… in that soft voice he rarely ever used.</p>
<p>Did he remember? Lloyd hoped he didn’t. As if nearly dying wasn’t bad enough, Lloyd didn’t want to deal with Ninten’s reaction to what he said.</p>
<p>Wait. PSI Healing. Lloyd shook one hand to test and make sure he could actually move.</p>
<p>“Thanks,” he sighed.</p>
<p>He knelt down by Ana, opposite from Ninten.</p>
<p>“What… happened?” Ninten asked.</p>
<p>“Something here in Easter is Weird-ifying people who can use PSI. I don’t know if you’re still susceptible, but you don’t seem to be affected by this place the same way now. It made you really angry, and then… you went full Weird-ified.”</p>
<p>“Oh.” Ninten took a shaky breath. “Okay. I don’t… remember too much. It’s all kinda foggy.”</p>
<p>Lloyd felt the worry unwind inside him. “You didn’t miss too much. Don’t worry.”</p>
<p>“Uh… how’d ya stop me?”</p>
<p>“I didn’t hurt you or anything. Um, I don’t think you were out this long, is she okay?”</p>
<p>“I hit her with a bat, Lloyd. She’s gonna be out for a little while. There’s not a hospital around, but she’s not too badly hurt, so we can just wait for her to wake up.” Ninten had a strange expression, like he was slowly realizing something.</p>
<p>“What’s wrong?”</p>
<p>“You didn’t hurt me. What <i>did</i> you do..?”</p>
<p>“I screamed at you.” Lloyd shrugged. “Write that down. Emotions can defeat the Weird-ified. I just kept trying to get through the darkness, to you. I told you how I felt, how much you mean to me as a friend.”</p>
<p>Ninten was oddly silent as he stared back at Lloyd.</p>
<p>“I know, it’s strange--”</p>
<p>“‘I’m in love with you’.”</p>
<p>It was like Ana paralyzed him all over again. This time, though, Lloyd couldn’t figure out how to get his voice to work, either. That… was why Ninten was so quiet, and why he had that wide-eyed look on his face.</p>
<p>He watched Ninten look down at the grass. “So… that <i>is</i> what you said, huh?”</p>
<p>How did this feel as terrifying as Ninten almost killing him?</p>
<p>“The… the thing at the church,” Ninten stammered. “A-and how you just follow me right into danger. And after Ana joined up, I noticed--y-you were sad, <i>way</i> before we got to Easter, but…”</p>
<p>Ninten’s words were full of dread. </p>
<p>
  <i>Dread. Disgust. Hatred.</i>
</p>
<p>Lloyd scrambled away from Ninten and Ana just before he vomited onto the grass. Tears stung at his eyes, because this was it, it was over, he was a homosexual, he was wrong, he’d lost his friend, he was alone again, his stomach hurt and his heart ached and Ninten <i>hated</i> him.</p>
<p>He was hunched over on hands and knees. His shaking arms barely supported him. Even though he wasn’t throwing up anymore, his body kept shuddering like some kind of dying motor, his lungs kept jerking inward. Gasping. He might collapse. Maybe it would be better if he weren’t awake just then.</p>
<p>Somewhere in the swirl of thoughts and the sound of hyperventilating, he heard Ninten shouting. Of course. Angry, he was really mad, Lloyd deserved--</p>
<p>“PSI Healing!”</p>
<p>Lloyd felt his breathing slow down, felt the world steady a little around him.</p>
<p>“O-okay, um, did that work? Lloyd? Are you--do you feel better?” Ninten’s shouting sounded really anxious. Why was Ninten anxious?</p>
<p>Lloyd sat back on his heels and wiped at his mouth with one arm. He was still trying to process everything that had just changed, and… Ninten was giving off strange signals.</p>
<p>“Better? Okay. C’mere, get away from the sick,” Ninten said as he tugged Lloyd backwards.</p>
<p>“What are you…”</p>
<p>Ninten came around to face Lloyd. “I didn’t mean to make ya--I mean--I didn’t even know it was possible to make someone so upset they get sick--I’m so sorry!”</p>
<p>Wait, <i>what?!</i> Ninten was crying..?</p>
<p>“You don’t… have to apologize.”</p>
<p>“No, I--here, just hold on,” Ninten said.</p>
<p>He untied his bandana and muttered something about “sick’s always real messy”, then took Lloyd’s glasses and started to clean them with water from a bottle in his backpack.</p>
<p>“Why are you doing this?” Lloyd asked, watching Ninten’s blurry image.</p>
<p>“‘Cause you’re my friend, and I care about you,” Ninten said.</p>
<p>“I’m… surprised you still want to be friends…”</p>
<p>Ninten, from what Lloyd could tell, abandoned his task to face Lloyd. “Why wouldn’t I?”</p>
<p>“Because I--” Lloyd couldn’t even look at Ninten out of focus. “I’m… gay.”</p>
<p>The last word was barely a whisper, but he felt it leave his mouth like it could crack the ground they sat on.</p>
<p>“...I don’t know what that means.”</p>
<p>“Is that what you want me to teach you today instead of math?” Lloyd pulled his hoodie around his body. “That’s the word for boys who love other boys. It’s not supposed to happen. Kids at school make fun of people like that--like <i>me</i>--with words my mother says I shouldn’t repeat, and they beat them up... and my dad says it means they’re sick in the head, and he says all those words I’m not allowed to say. It’s supposed to be boys and girls that fall in love. Gay people aren’t normal, they’re wrong.”</p>
<p>“Lloyd--”</p>
<p>“It wasn’t supposed to turn out like this. I didn’t feel like this, not at first, I--” Lloyd wiped at his eyes with the back of his hand, wishing he weren’t crying again. “You and me, we were friends, and we were really <i>good friends,</i> and that was good. B-but then I--” he gasped involuntarily-- “I started to feel kinda warm, kinda soft inside, when you’d hug me, o-or smile, and then in Snowman I was thinking about when we were at the drugstore, and--and I realized I was calling you cute in my head--and then when you went with Ana at the church, I… I knew you liked her, b-but that was when I realized <i>I liked you.</i> I w-wanted to t-tell you, once I came back, but I… I didn’t. I thought I--that I should just keep being your friend, like you want me to be, not… not like I really am. I was gonna do it, too! I--I only said anything ‘cause I didn’t know what else to do, you had your bat and the crazy eyes and I was <i>scared.</i> But I’m always scared, that’s nothing new. It’s just… I know you aren’t like me. You’re normal, Ninten. Well, you’re a psychic hero, b-but you’re not a <i>faggot.</i> I’m not a normal k-kid like I keep saying. <i>I’m a mistake.</i>”</p>
<p>Ninten responded by… pulling Lloyd into a hug?</p>
<p>“Stop that! You’re not a mistake, you’re--you--just <i>shut up!</i> I don’t care what people say about this ‘gay’ stuff, I don’t care if you love girls or guys, or-or if ya love <i>me,</i> it don’t matter! You’re my friend, you’re a <i>great</i> friend! You’re exactly who you are. Don’t talk about yourself like that. And did you really keep all this locked up since Snowman?! You were that scared? Please don’t be scared…”</p>
<p>Lloyd was struggling to figure out what to do next. Any normal person would’ve been freaked out to know their best friend had a crush on them, and a million times more if they were both boys, but Ninten cared more about making Lloyd feel better. He even said it didn’t matter who Lloyd liked, he just wanted them to be friends…</p>
<p>There was no way Ninten was going to like Lloyd back. That was a silly thing to hope for. But… this rejection was much more kind than Lloyd expected. Ninten was okay with Lloyd being gay.</p>
<p>
  <i>Ninten was okay with Lloyd being gay.</i>
</p>
<p>Before Lloyd could come up with any words, he heard a soft groan nearby. He and Ninten both looked over to see Ana stirring from her unconscious state.</p>
<p>Lloyd backed away from Ninten a little and managed a smile as the tears dried. “Go take care of your girlfriend, Ninten.”</p>
<p>Ninten handed Lloyd back his glasses. When Lloyd had them situated on his face, he realized Ninten was… not grinning. Just smiling, no visible teeth. It looked more… gentle.</p>
<p>“Thanks, I will.”</p>
<p>Then, of course, he set the grin free. “Oh! Ya think she remembers anything? I only remember the stuff you yelled real loud, but she’s way smarter than I am. I’m gonna ask her!”</p>
<p>Ninten rushed to Ana’s side, and Lloyd watched from where he sat. A few words and a Lifeup later, Ninten helped Ana to her feet.</p>
<p>“Hey, Lloyd! Wanna tell Ana what we figured out?”</p>
<p>That came sooner than Lloyd thought it would. He stood up and joined them. </p>
<p>“Did Ninten tell you what happened?” Lloyd asked.</p>
<p>“Yes. We were… really Weird-ified?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, but listen. Ninten--I mean, Weird-ified Ninten--would slow down and get confused when I tried to talk to the real Ninten. The more emotional I was, the closer I was to breaking him out!”</p>
<p>“Exactly! Lloyd used words to bring me back,” Ninten said.</p>
<p>Ana scoffed. “You could’ve done that for me instead of whacking me in the head!”</p>
<p>“You were in the middle of reciting a PSI power, I had to stop you!” Ninten defended.</p>
<p>“Either way,” Lloyd interrupted, “we’re all okay now. And we know more than we did before. PSI users are more susceptible to Weird-ifying… and there are two ways to undo it.”</p>
<p>“Yeah! We can either whack sense into ‘em… or use love,” Ninten said with a brief glance at Lloyd.</p>
<p>“We still don’t know what’s happened to the missing people,” Ana said.</p>
<p>“The kids here don’t have that answer,” Lloyd replied. “I spoke to everyone in town. Although, there was an odd little house where the children insisted there was something special about their baby sibling…”</p>
<p>Ninten gasped in excitement. “Oh! I can practice the better Telepathy skills Ana’s been teachin’ me! All right, Lloyd, show the way!”</p>
<p>Lloyd waved them along in the direction of the house. Everything felt the same… except for the huge weight off his chest. Maybe liking boys wasn’t quite as bad as Thanksgiving made it seem.</p>
<p>Regardless, the new information fascinated him. Why would Weird-ified people and creatures respond to love? The answer to that question had the potential to reveal a lot more about what they were actually fighting.</p>
<p>Hm. Lloyd wouldn’t have found that out if he hadn’t had to confess his crush. As it turned out, being gay made him more useful to the group. He knew that thought was far from logical, but he let it stay--after beating himself up over this for so long, it was nice to think that the thing he saw as such a huge problem was actually good for him.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks so much for the read!<br/>I debated SO HARD on what to include/revamp from the initial Easter draft I had. There was almost a scene included in which Ana is totally lost to the world, jamming to a Discman (I'm gonna put that in later!), but in the end it just didn't work very well.<br/>Also... I took a big creative liberty with the "Weird-ified" plot here. Part of that was the Youngtown music's vibes (it's just super unsettling), and part of it was the fact that this would 1) foreshadow, 2) act as a vehicle for the forced confession (it was better for Lloyd in the end), and 3) give more depth to Easter/Youngtown than just "it's an unsettling town full of abandoned children with a teleporting baby". It's obviously a very important place when understanding the game, but I wanted this to be a pivotal point for the fic, too. Forgive me!<br/>Comments and criticism welcome, as always!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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